Post-Napo Poetry Challenge #1 Winner announced!

[Mark T]

Okay, so it's my job to set the next poetry challenge. I know it's supposed to go up on the games board but I'm not doing that because the poets hang out here. Feel free to chime in with anything vaguely poetical to keep this thread bobbing about till the challenge is done - or I might have to do it on my own, and that could get ugly.
I'm going to keep this simple - transgender pornographic science fiction galactic war conspiracy from an afterlife POV in palindromic haiku - no, I'm kidding. I'm just going to provide a title and leave it up to the entrants to provide their take in whatever size, shape, form or style they feel like - so long as this is the title of your poem:

Night Drive

So start your engines, round up them cows or whack that golf ball - it's Poetry Challenge number ... I don't know. Submit by PM to me by end of May. All welcome, including newcomers and reclusive lurkers.

        

[drab]

Night Drive

What's so special about the night?
We don't go Day Driving!
So why 'Night'?
Although, I either scuba dive, or
night dive.

However
a muff dive
is just a muff dive! Go figure.

I suppose some activities
are, what they are,
whenever they happen,
Einstein's 4th Dimension
while beautiful
is redundant in the pump and grind world

sometimes  

This is a super theme Mark, there's so much scope to really let our imaginations lose the run of themselves  
V, already burdened by more corpses you can shake a stick at, can now do a little Spring cleaning  
Come on poets, accept the challenge, support Mark and show the world that poets aren't gentle souls...we're mad bastards!

[Mark T]

 
Alright, thanks drab, for those cool words. Nice snap-piece there.   And thanks FireFly, for stickying this in G&C. Let's see how it goes, then. Anyone got a mailing list for the active poets?

[Mark T]

I'm happy to announce receipt of the first submission. I've discovered that I like getting new poems in the mail that I can just enjoy reading, without any thoughts of critiquing. It's great - so I'm looking forward to more submissions, please.

I realize there's a doldrums factor after the highs of Napo. I'm feeling poemed out too. But i reckon there's another poem or two in us yet. And consider that before you make the time to compose something, you have little idea what's going to appear in the final form - that is pure unfettered creativity at play, and where else are you going to find that in your daily grind?     

[Tom 10]

great points, Mark.

[Catherine F]

great points, Mark.

Yep ! Look out for mine Mark 

[Mark T]

Thank you Tom, and Catherine I look forward to your entry. Another two sterling submissions have landed in my inbox -thank you both.

[Mark T]

Fourth entry has arrived - another good poem. Looking forward to more submissions before the weekend expires.

First line syndrome:

When we sit down at the keyboard with the intention of writing a poem, the blank screen can be daunting. We want to do justice to the theme, idea, urge we have to express something in this art form we practise. In the bad old days we would rip out the page from the typewriter, ball it up and hurl at the cat, dog or parrot with a few choice words. Perhaps the hassle and expense of paper would oblige one to be more circumspect but it's much easier in the PC age to just hit delete and click away to something more satisfying. A typewriter wasn't much use for anything else except to maybe solve the noisy parrot problem once and for all, with an equally satisfying thud. I digress - my point is that we can just put down an opening without worrying about the quality too much - it's much more important to make the leap of accepting your opening, and opening the door to the rest of the thoughts and expressions to be converted into the always less than ideal symbols we know as words. But this is how we communicate as creative writers and poets are further hampered by the restrictions they impose on themselves. I've noticed in my and others' WIP drafts that quite often the opening has become redundant subsequent to the rest of the piece being rolled out - the direction of the poem may have even gone off at another tangent altogether, to the piece you were meant to write. So regard that first line as a firelighter, the catalyst to get going, knowing you usually feel better afterwards for having produced something. And then you can cut the opening or do something editorial to straighten out the poem. If we can look at the process in this way then the first line is not an obstacle, it is a doorway, a means to the end-realization of why we write poetry in the first place. Just some thoughts on an early Saturday evening. Hope you're all having a good weekend.    

[Gyppo]

Mark is right.  I rarely know where anything is going when the first thought or image enters my my head.  But if I trap it on-screen then there's a chance it will develop into something worth having.

Sometimes that initial image or thought is destined to be the last line, so if you have a clear or strong idea which doesn't seem to want to move forwards then try looking back to see what subconscious process was happening before.

My NaPo offering No Second Place started at the wrong end.

Both approaches may work for you.  It costs nothing but a little time to explore the idea.

Gyppo

[drab]

I also concur.
I rarely start writing with an idea in mind.
If I'm still staring at the blank screen for any more than five minutes I just write anything.
There's always music playing on the laptop, so I take a line or a few consecutive words from a song.
This never fails to produce a finished poem.
The title always comes last.

[Mark T]

Thanks for read and comments, Gyppo and drab. I hope this stimulates more poems for the challenge. Entry # 5 is in and it's another good poem. So far, so good, looking forward to all those entries still in the pipeline.

[Mark T]

Still time to submit your winning entry -what are you waiting for?

[Vienna]

Have i still got time?

[Mark T]

I'm pleased to announce the winner of the poetry challenge - Catherine F.

Well done, Catherine, our resident French poetess.

This was a good challenge with good poems, well-supported by entrants, viewers, and voters, and my hearty thanks to all of you who participated in some way. The other poets were indar, Tom 10, drab and kateD.   

Catherine has indicated to me that due to an exceptionally hectic schedule of commitments, she doesn't feel she could do justice to hosting the next challenge, and as the outgoing challenge-master I say that that is no problem. Accordingly, I'm asking kateD, who placed second in the challenge, to take over the reins and host the next poetry challenge.

What say you, Kate?



   

[Tom 10]

Congrats CF! Wonderful poem, and great to have you in the contest - hurry back as soon as you can.

Kate!  Congrats to you as well.  Your poem is deserving and I look forward to your post-NaPo challenge.   

Mark - I tip my hat.

T